The use of devices and systems for locating lost personal items is known in the art. It is not uncommon for an individual to misplace car keys, house keys, keys to a lock, and the like. Often, an individual who is in possession of the keys will place the keys in a particular location. When it comes time for the individual to use the keys, he cannot remember, or has difficulty recalling, the location where the keys were last placed. As a result, the individual will search for the whereabouts of his keys in vain, hoping that he can recall where the keys were placed. If the person is unable to locate the keys, the keys will have to be replaced, which can be at great cost and expense.
Prior art locator devices have been used in the location of parked automobiles and personal articles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,258 to Susan Johnson and Tejas Desal, which is incorporated herein by reference, shows a car locator system that comprises a hand-held locator that receives information with regard to the location of the vehicle. The device shown in Johnson is adapted to register the location of a car that is positioned in a parking space, such that the operator will be able to more easily find the vehicle when parked. The device shown in Johnson does not solve the problem of lost personal items, such as a set of keys.
Despite the device shown in the patent issued to Johnson and Desal, the problem of locating personal items still exits. Over the course of a particular year, people waste valuable time searching for articles that have been misplaced, which creates a problem. Searching for misplaced items can cause a person to be late for appointments, miss airplane departures, delay the opening of a business and, overall, unnecessarily delay or even prevent the person from undertaking their respective daily routine. When a person is late for an appointment, business can suffer economically by resulting in lost sales and lost customers. In addition, in cases of an emergency, precious time can be wasted looking for misplaced personal items.
A number of prior art devices have attempted to solve the problem of finding misplaced articles and other personal belongings. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,125 to Sam W. Trivett, which is incorporated herein by reference, shows a remote control locator system that is adapted to be retrofitted onto a remote control device. The locator system comprises a sending unit and a receiving unit that is attachable to a conventional remote control unit. The sending unit is designed to activate the receiving unit by emitting a preprogrammed or randomly chosen locator signal that is transmitted to the receiving unit. The locator system is adapted for use with a remote control, as opposed to discrete, relatively small personal items such as a set of keys.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,142 to Shipong Norman Yeh, which is incorporated herein by reference, shows a system for locating a vehicle that is parked in a parking lot. The system comprises two separate signal generator/processor circuits that are contained in separate modules. One module is hand held and is activated by a user. When the user activates the hand held module, a signal is generated that is transmitted for use in the determination of the position of the vehicle. In response, the second module emits a direction indicating signal to the first module, which then displays the direction and elevation of the vehicle relative to the user. The device shown in Yeh, however, is not adapted to be used with smaller personal items, such as a set of keys.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,501,378 to Peter J. Knaven, which is incorporated herein by reference, shows an item locator system. The locator system includes a first device for receiving and transmitting a signal over free space. The first device includes a receiver that is adapted for sending a plurality of signals, each having a distinct frequency. The signals are received by a first transceiver. A speaker is provided for emitting an audible sound when the lost item is located. However, the device must be programmed by the operator in order to be used in determining the location of the lost personal item. The system taught by Knaven is limited for use in searching for a parked automobile as opposed to discrete articles, such as personal items.
None of the devices described in the foregoing patents, taken either singularly or in combination, solve the problem addressed by the instant invention. Specifically, the devices of the foregoing patents still do not recognize or solve the problem of locating relatively small personal items, articles and objects, such as a set of keys, wallets, watches, pocketbooks, and the like, that are lost, misplaced, stolen or are positioned away from the user.
In order to address the problems set forth immediately above, it is desired to provide an article locating system. Also, it is desired to provide a system and method for locating an article that is positioned away from the user that communicates to the user how close or far away the user is to the article that he is attempting to locate. It is also desired to provide a hand-held, relatively small device for use in determining the position of a personal item or article that has been lost, stolen, or misplaced. Still yet, it is desired to provide a system for locating a personal item, using audio/visual means to indicate to the user the approximate position of the article. It is further desired to provide an article locating system that is inexpensive and easy to use.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the description of the invention and appended claims.